Question Regarding Camcorders, 8MM or MiniDV?

My wife and I decided to give one relative a camcorder for the holidays. The relative had one of those old vhs type camcorders from the late 80s, and it finally broke.

The relative is not computer savy but does know his way around electronics such as vcrs, plasma tv, and dvd players.

I have two catagories for a camcorder, 8mm or minidv. I found one of each formats for about the same price, one Sony 8mm and one Samsung minidv. Which format would be a better choice as far as clarity, quality and ease of use? What are the pros and cons of each?

Clearly, anything digital is superior/more advanced than the old style analog 8mm. DV has higher image quality first and foremost and you can still transfer the info to VHS, but still have the potential for computer editing, DVD storage, imaging, etc. Digital last forever, analog will eventually be lost.

Surprising that you can get miniDV for same price as 8mm (HI-8mm). I recently got a Hi-8 new for under $200, just as a temporary until i can get the new HD DV, which is better than broadcast quality.

Clearly, anything digital is superior/more advanced than the old style analog 8mm. DV has higher image quality first and foremost and you can still transfer the info to VHS, but still have the potential for computer editing, DVD storage, imaging, etc. Digital last forever, analog will eventually be lost.

Surprising that you can get miniDV for same price as 8mm (HI-8mm). I recently got a Hi-8 new for under $200, just as a temporary until i can get the new HD DV, which is better than broadcast quality.

My Panasonic MiniDV camcorder is great. Little expensive because of the extra battery and other things that were needed (around $400 total). I use it mostly to record either tennis or bowling so that I can go back and study it later. If you are going to do any kind of editing, get a MiniDV and not one of those mini-DVD ones. The mini-DVDs record into a compressed format while MiniDV transfers to your computer in uncompressed avi format. Make sure you have a LOT of extra hard drive space if you go with the MiniDV because the size of the videos gets large very quickly (one video of mine is 2.6GB and it's only about 12 minutes long). I have a 120GB external hard drive dedicated solely to video to study to go along with the other 3 hard drives. If you just want to go straight from camcorder to video and not make any changes then the MiniDVD is quicker for that purpose. The MiniDV's transfer in real time. You use the play functions on the camcorder and transfer to the computer as it plays, using video capture software. If you have a long video then you will be waiting for it to play through so that it transfers to the computer. Sorry, I don't know too much about the Hi-8mm, only the MiniDV because that's what I have.

I see by the $ link that it is actually a Digital8 that you are looking at. That is very comparable to the miniDV in terms of quality. The advantage of the Digi8 is that you can play analog Hi-8 (your old tapes) through them. Without being computer savvy and without a library of existing 8mm tapes, there is not much difference between them, although i'd still go with the MiniDV in case a computer ever comes into the scene.

I see by the $ link that it is actually a Digital8 that you are looking at. That is very comparable to the miniDV in terms of quality. The advantage of the Digi8 is that you can play analog Hi-8 (your old tapes) through them. Without being computer savvy and without a library of existing 8mm tapes, there is not much difference between them, although i'd still go with the MiniDV in case a computer ever comes into the scene.

Click to expand...

Thanks Chief!!! I guess the minidv would be the better choice for the money......

I've heard that Digital8 is better quality than minidv. Has something to do with the amount of physical space for the recorded area. But, only Sony (and maybe still Hitachi) sell Digital8 recorders. Everybody sells minidv recorders. I suspect that Digital8 is on the way out.

For sure, don't get a miniDVD recorder. Expensive, and you cannot view a recording until you "close" the disk. After being "closed", you can no longer record to that disk at a later time, even if there is still room on that disk. And quality isn't all that good. Certainly not as good as regular DVD recordings.

I would go for the miniDV POGO. Though you mentioned that the person recieving this gift is not computer savy, miniDV can be plugged in to any A/V connection via VCR or TV to be viewed directly from the camera. Plus he will have an option to transfer the video files to a computer in the future to be compiled in disc format.